Think college football games are longer than ever? Well, you’re right.
The average length of college football games has steadily increased since 2008 and is up to 3 hours and 24 minutes this season — an increase of 18 minutes from 2006, according to Stats LLC. And 2006 is a key date. That’s the year college football implemented rules to shorten the game.
However, the increasing popularity of the pass-happy spread offense, the rise in scoring and the advent of the 40-second play clock in 2008 has caused an uptick. By comparison, NFL games were 3 hours and 8 minutes in 2015.